This editorial appears in the Yakima Herald-Republic on Aug. 13, 2009.

"All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent." -- Thomas Jefferson

This may very well be the summer of America's discontent over health care reform.

But it's impossible to gauge just what level of angst Americans are feeling since little debate is being generated. It's all noise and anger that we have witnessed so far.

The vitriol has gotten so bad that U.S. Rep. Brian Baird from Washington's 3rd District called off any town hall meetings during the recess -- he has conducted some 300 since taking office 11 years ago -- due to death threats.

Our state's two senators also have chosen to drop the idea of holding town hall meetings. Our 4th District congressman, Doc Hastings, has likewise taken a pass on these types of large gatherings.

Far too often these meet-and-greet sessions with lawmakers have ended up in yelling contests, with the loudest voices winning out and the losers -- a vast majority of those sitting in the audience -- wondering if they'll ever get to know what's being proposed.

This was supposed to be a time for enlightened debate. When lawmakers headed out of Washington, D.C., for their annual summer recess, the main item on the agenda was health care reform, a top priority of the Obama administration.

But with several competing proposals being prepared in the House and Senate -- with some taking up more than a thousand pages -- the public has had difficulty sifting through what's fact and what's fantasy.

Here are a few misconceptions that require some fact-checking:

* The Obama health care plan does not authorize "death panels" to determine whether an ailing parent or someone with disabilities is worthy of health care. Not true. One of the House bills does offer coverage for counseling for terminally ill patients, but that's far removed from anything like a death sentence. In fact, counseling patients about end-of-life care needs to be encouraged.

* Nor will the federal government pay for abortions. A television advertisement by an anti-abortion group has raised that fear. In the ad, an elderly man exclaims, "They won't pay for my surgery, but we're forced to pay for abortions." The ad then raises the question: "Will this be our future?"

None of the proposals before Congress would authorize such payments, and one bill specifically states no public funds will pay for such procedures. It's also federal law.

* President Obama is also not immune from misstatements. He keeps repeating a falsehood that this country spends about $6,000 more per year per person on health care than other advanced nations but we are still not any healthier. The actual calculation is closer to $2,500 per person.

We gleaned these facts from FactCheck.org. This nonpartisan, nonprofit Web site is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania, and is funded primarily by the Annenberg Foundation. It's worthwhile navigating this site and reading the rebuttals it offers on misleading statements by politicians, political parties and special interest groups.

The Web site, however, does not have a remedy for ill-tempered, foul-mouthed dissenters who find questioning their assumptions equivalent to an act of treason.

Democracy is sustained by thoughtful, cogent debate where facts prevail over fear and fiction. Each one of us, though, has to do our part to seek the facts, weigh the issues and be prepared to change our position when challenged by competing viewpoints.

Let's hope President Obama's friendly reception on Tuesday at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire sets the norm. So far, it's been the exception.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Michael Shepard, Bob Crider, Spencer Hatton and Karen Troianello.